WO2008037295A1

WO2008037295A1 - Method, server and program for displaying a piece of state information

Info

Publication number: WO2008037295A1
Application number: PCT/EP2006/066815
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ralf Neuhaus; Rainer Uecker
Original assignee: Cycos Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2006-09-27
Filing date: 2006-09-27
Publication date: 2008-04-03

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for displaying a piece of state information on an information page (IS) on a client computer (CC), where the state information is provided by a service (PD) and where the state information is transmitted to the client computer (CC). In this case, in a first step, the information page (IS) is transmitted to the client computer (CC) and displayed there, and, in second steps, the displayed state information is repeatedly updated, with an updated version of the state information being transmitted to the client computer (CC) and with the updated state information respectively being shown on the displayed information page (IS) instead of the previously displayed state information. The information page can be provided by a web page or a frame.

Description

description

Method, server and program for displaying status information

The invention relates to a method for displaying a state information according to the preamble of patent claim 1, a server for displaying state information according to the preamble of patent claim 10, and a program for displaying state information according to the preamble of patent claim 11.

Modern communication devices, such as phones, mobile devices, etc. are designed often with either a graphical Benutzeroberflä ^¬ che, or these communication devices is an external device, such as a personal computer, associated with a graphical user interface or text-based user interface. . The latter constellation is often referred to as CTI ( "Computer Telephony Integration") refers to an important task of the text-based or grafi ^¬ user interfaces for communication devices is the display of names and / or communication addresses of potential communication partners, such representations are often called "electronic phone book or as a directory service.

In addition to the pure representation of entries that are assigned to persons or their communication devices, the depiction of the availability of another user or his communication device is a frequently used function. This feature is known as "presence service", signifying terms that allow the presence or Available ^¬ ness of a potential communication partner is displayed. Thus, it is common within companies in order ^¬ to show whether an employee / colleague is is available, is currently in a call ("busy") or whether its communication terminal (mobile device, etc.) nerhalb or outside a powered radio range befin ^¬ det etc .. Here, the state information ( "Be ^¬ operating state") of a communication device with a "To ^¬ state information" (for example, presence) is often equated of this communication device associated with the user.

Presence information, and therefore the above Zustandsinformatio ^¬ nen be used in special CTI programs and displayed. Another application of presence information is in so-called "messenger tools" (eg ICQ, AOL Instant

Messenger, Windows Messaging Service, ...), whereby a subscriber / user selects himself from a list of different statuses of his own desired status and thus influences the entries assigned to him, ie, that a participant / user by a manual action, For example, logging in or out of such a service determines whether it is displayed as "present" or "absent" ("online" / "offline") in the so-called "buddy lists" or "directories" of its potential communication partners becomes.

In the case of many known CTI solutions and, above all, in the case of the "messenger tools" mentioned, it is customary to use a so-called web browser for displaying the communication contacts ("buddy lists", directories, directories), So a display program of (Internet) information pages, which is already preinstalled on virtually every modern computer. In this case, a web page (information page) in a common data format (eg HTML = hypertext mark-up language) is created by a server or a central service and a data network (eg intranet, Internet) to the computer ("client computer ") and displayed there, this web page, in addition to other display and Steuerele ^¬ elements also the entries of the potential communication partners and the associated status information, ie the Presence information, which has proven to be nachtei ^¬ lig in that, at best, the displayed presence information is current to the time the web page was loaded. reflect status, whereby subsequent changes in the status information (ie in the presence statuses) are no longer taken into account in the representations. A user of such a web page or of such a CTI system is thereby forced to update the display of the web page at regular intervals, which leads to the regular reloading of the complete web page or the complete "frame" and thus to a high utilization Res ^¬ resources (network bandwidth, processor load of the client computer, utilization of the central server or service, etc.) results.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an always up-to-date view of presence information and to reduce the resource burden for updating presence information (state information).

The object is achieved by a method according to claim 1, by a server according to claim 10 and by a program according to claim 11.

The solution to the problem provides a method for displaying state information in an information page on a client computer, wherein the state information is provided by a service and wherein the state information via the Internet protocol to the client computer over ^¬ averages. In a first step, the Informa ^¬ tion page is transmitted to the client computer and displays there reasonable, and in the second steps, the attached display ^¬ te state information is repeatedly updated, whereby an updated version of the state information is transmitted to the client computer and wherein the updated state information is respectively displayed in the displayed information page instead of the state information displayed so far.

By this method, it is possible to make a dynamic ^display of presence information in arbitrary web pages and other information pages, without the uncomfortable web page or a complete frame must be reloaded.

The object also provides a server for the provision of status information, with a detection device for detecting the operating state of a device, and with a conversion device for generating the state information from the information about the operating state of the device, the server providing an interface to the mediating the state information over a data network by means of the Internet Protocol, wherein the interface is adapted to cooperate with a program installed on a client computer and wherein the server is set up for a repeated update of the state information and for a repeated transmission of the state information over the interface is. Such a server is to provide capable updated presence information for Reloaded and for existing, charged Infor ^¬ mationsseiten available.

The solution of the object also provides a program for displaying state information in an information page, wherein the program for receiving the state information is set up by a server, the program being adapted to repeatedly update the representation of the state information in the loaded and displayed information page. If such a program is brought together with egg ^¬ ner web page or it loaded separately on a client computer, and for execution, a frequent reloading of pages of information is not necessary in cases where Displaying presence information to be updated.

Advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention are specified in the dependent claims. The features and advantages described here are to be applied analogously to the server according to the invention and also the program according to the invention. A common reason for repeated charging of information ^¬ sides and the network load associated a presence information is in ^¬ the as the state information used, associated to an entry of a user or to an identifier of a device shown in Informati ^¬ onsseite is avoided, becomes.

The process is easy on conventional computers without additional administrative work, such as the Installa ^¬ tion of additional software use by a program is transmitted to the client computer with the information side, controlled by this program from the client computer repeats the updated status information when the service is requested.

If the service in the cases in which a change of the state information described by the state information, the state information is updated and to the client computer a message about the presence of the updated state information is sent, eliminates timed polling of the This is even more so if the message already includes the updated state information, the updated state information transmitted by the message from the client computer to update the associated displayed state information in the information page is used. Alternatively, after recom- message fang retrieved the updated status information from the service by the client computer and is represented aktuali ^¬ Siert in the information section. in this case, sufficient for reporting a short data message. Au In the meantime, the service can detect the case in which the service "booking" web page is no longer loaded, because in this case the request for the updated information by the client computer fails, so that subsequent messages can be saved , Practically, the state information is generated by a communication system, wherein the operating state of a communication terminal connected to the communication system is evaluated for generating the state information. Thus, by operating steps, which usually take place anyway, for example by operating a telephone, the status information is automatically generated.

Especially with information pages with many entries, it is advantageous if the client computer at the service, the transmission of the updated state information is requested only in cases where a mouse pointer of a graphical user interface of the client computer on or in the Near an associated with the respective state information entry is moved. This avoids unnecessary traffic because only entries that are important to a user are provided with current state information. The same advantage arises when the updating of the status information displayed in the information page is released in cases where the status information is located in a currently visible area of the information page, and the updating is inhibited in the cases where the status information in a currently covered or non-visible area of the information page is arranged. This namely vermie ^¬ that information for those parts of the information page to be loaded, which are outside the viewing area. If a user then "scrolls" the page, then the required information can be obtained.

Embodiments of the method according to the invention are explained below with reference to the drawing. This exporting ^¬ approximately examples also serve to illustrate the invention of a server and a program according to the invention.

The single figure shows schematically a client computer with a web browser, a web server with a prepared information page and a server with a service.

In the figure, a client computer CC (eg, a personal computer, PDA, smart phone, etc.), a web server WS, and a server having a service PD ("presence service") in a network (not shown) In this case, the network is an intranet, ie a company-limited packet-switched data network in accordance with the Internet Protocol, and of course the components mentioned can also communicate with each other via any other suitable data network, for example a mobile radio network or the Internet It should be mentioned that client computer CC, web server WS and the service PD can be installed both on different computers and on the same computer, in particular it is advisable to install the web server WS and the service PD on one and the same computer to run common hardware platform.

The figure below describes how an information page IS is displayed with the employee directory of a company in a web browser WB of the client computer CC. The aim is for each employee an entry shown ^¬ to which a display element, for example in the form of a so-called. "Icons", is to be ^¬ ordered for the presence status of this employee. The presence status is a Zustandsin ^¬ formation, the should reflect this with ^¬ worker's a (telephone) accessibility. As a source of information for ^¬ se state information is to play in the present exemplary embodiment, an indication serving on whether a this employee diverted assigned phone ( "office machinery") to an external call ^¬ target is or not. In a redirection to an external destination (eg mobile phone) will it be ^¬ assumed that these employees can not find Working in his office and, therefore, over the phone directory of Informati ^¬ onsseite (web page), or at least not directly, he ^¬ reichbar is. Alternatively, however, access to a so-called presence server as an information source is also possible. In such a presence server usually can use a variety of sources of information in turn. These include access to time recording systems, GPS transceivers, access control systems or similar.

The information page IS, with its controls and its structure for holding the entries for the employees, is created in a directory server (not shown). An example of such an information page IS is the page "xyz.html" shown in the figure, to which a program or a so-called "client component" of a program, which is shown in abbreviated form in the figure, is added to this information page IS , This program (client component) later instructs an executing web browser WB to add an image to an entry ("icon") from a server named "ums.company.com", which provides the service PD here load.

The prepared information page IS is transmitted in a first step to the web server WS and stored there. As soon as the information page IS with the company communication directory is called by a user of the client computer CC via the web browser WB, in a step 2 a corresponding "GET xyz. Html" command is transmitted to the web server WS, which in turn, on the basis of the reference in a step 3 from the server "ums.company.com" loads the referenced image. The server "ums.company.com" in this case is the service PD, which in turn in a step 4 from a (not shown) communication system, the status (ie the state information) of the referenced with the image user "user = rne ") loads. Due to the so won th ^¬ lowed state information ( "occupied" for example), the service PD, so the server "ums.firma.com" provides a corresponding "busy picture" the web server WS (step 5), which in turn this returned to the image Vervollstän ^¬ ending of the information page IS used this (step 6) then transmits to the web browser WB indicating this site now. In step 6, together with the information page IS a program, specifically a client component is transmitted to the Web ^¬ browser WB, which causes the regu- lar intervals by the Web browser WB again the image that Presence to Status, that is, the state information, of the referenced user requested by the web server WS. As a result, steps 3, 4 and 5 are executed again, as a result of which there is now an updated version of the status information in the form of an updated image in the web server WS, which then ^transmits to the program of the web browser and transfers it to the existing, in Display information page IS is inserted instead of the previous image. Such programs, which update information "in the background" of an already displayed information page IS, for example, are known as "AJAX technologies" (AJAX = Asynchronous Java Script And XML). Such a method of requesting information at regular intervals is also referred to as "polling".

Instead of a text-based image In ^¬ formations, hyperlinks, numerical values or other OBJEK ^¬ te can also be downloaded as a representative of the state information of course.

As an alternative to the "polling" method described above, updated information can also be actively transmitted from the web server WS to the web browser WB as required, and is also drawn as a "push" method. This assumes that in step 6 with the information page IS, a (different) program is transmitted to the web browser WB and executed there, this program "waiting" for sent information of the web server WS to this add einzu- after their arrival in the existing information ^¬ page iS instead of previous information or images. such technologies are known for example as "co-met" or "iPush". To realize the information generation several methods, also parallel to each other, feasible. For example, a communication system can be programmed so that it automatically reports a change in status of a communication terminal (telephone) to the service PD, in turn, this change to the web server WS, for example by means of a modified image or by means of a changed (other) state information , reports. A so-called "server component" of said program then transmits the changed information to the associated "client component" of the program, which is installed on the client computer CC and provides for an "update" of the displayed information is also a regular "polling" of the service for obtaining the information about a state change conceivable.

The illustrated web browser may alternatively (or additionally) be instructed by the program loaded in step 6 to provide only those entries with updated status information that are currently "visible", ie in a currently displayed area of the screen memory of the client computer CC are located. it is also possible to evaluate the position of the mouse pointer graphic Benutzeroberflä ^¬ che the client computer CC, and then upgrade only sol che entries that are "in" or it near the mouse Pointers are located. With a very "long", scrollable information page IS with a large number of entries and thus a large number of state information to be updated, computing time and network capacity are thus saved.

Advantageously, the state information is displayed as an activatable "link" ("Hyper-Link"), wherein a "clicking" of the link triggers a reloading of the state information or another function.

Claims

claims

1. A method for displaying state information in a

Information page (IS) on a client computer (CC), the state information is provided by a service (PD) and wherein the state information is transmitted to the client computer (CC), characterized in that the information page (IS) on the Client computer (CC) transmitted and displayed there, and that repeatedly displayed state information aktua ^¬ Lisiert, wherein an updated version of the ^{¬ ¬} information is transmitted to the client computer (CC) and wherein the updated state information je ^¬ Weil in the displayed information page (IS) is displayed in place of the previously displayed state information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that as the state information, a Presence information is used, which is assigned to an entry of a user or an identifier of a device in the information page (IS) is displayed.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the information page (IS) a program to the client computer (CC) is transmitted, controlled by this program from the client computer (CC) repeatedly the updated state information at the service (PD) is requested.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the service information (PD) in the cases in which a change of the state information described by the state information occurs, the state information is updated and to the client computer (CC) a message is sent over the presence of the updated state information.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the message includes the updated state information, wherein the transmitted with the message updated ^¬ sierte state information from the client computer (CC) used to update the associated, displayed state information in the information page (IS) becomes.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that accessed by the client computer (CC) after receiving the message, the updated state information from the service (PD) and in the information side (IS) aktuali ^¬ Siert is illustrated.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the state information is generated by a communication system, wherein for the generation of the state information of the operating state of a communicating ^¬ onssystem connected communication terminal is evaluated.

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that is requested by the client computer (CC) at the service (PD), the transmission of the updated state information in cases where a mouse pointer of a graphical user interface of the client Computer (CC) is moved to one or in the vicinity of an associated with the respective state information entry.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the updating of the status information displayed in the information page (IS) is enabled in cases where the status information is located in a currently visible area of the information page (IS), and the updating in the cases in which the status information is arranged in a currently covered or non-visible area of the information page (IS).

10. Server (WS) for the provision of state information, with a detection device for detecting the operating state of a device, with a conversion device for generating the state information from the information about the operating state of the device, characterized by an interface for the transmission of the state information ^¬ tion via a data network by means of the Internet protocol, wherein the interface is configured to cooperate with a program installed on a client computer (CC), and wherein the server for a repeated Ak ^¬ tualisierung the state information and for a repeated transmission of the state information on the interface is set up.

11. A program for displaying state information in an information page (IS), wherein the program for receiving the state information from a server (WS) is set up, characterized in that the program for repeatedly updating the display of the state information in the loaded and displayed information page (FIG. IS) is set up.